Posts with tag jonathan-coulton

I think Still Alive -- JoCo version wins the "genre bending" award. Still Alive was originally the closing credits song for Portal by Valve Software. The computer system known as GLaDOS promises the Portal player cake throughout the game. It's kind of the carrot to keep the player moving. (This is also the source of The Cake Is Not A Lie.) Still Alive is performed by GLaDOS at the end of the game.

Well, being the geek savant that he is, Jonathan Coulton covered Still Alive. Being the WoW culture savant that he is, Spiff took JoCo's cover and turned it into a World of Warcraft machinima. (There are plenty of references to the original Portal game in the video, though, so this version isn't entirely detached from its roots.)

Like all of Spiff's videos, Still Alive -- JoCo version is a lot of fun. Spiff does a great job capturing the fun and humor of JoCo's original music. Not to mention, his animation skills are constantly growing and always impressive.

Edit: JoCo wrote the original song, mind you. Still Alive was performed at the end of the game by a female artist. This song, then, is the version performed by JoCo. "Cover" is a tough word to use for this, so I wanted to clarify it.

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As we reported a little while back, Blizzard will be in attendance at the sold out Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, Washington this weekend, and Crygil has posted on the forums that they'll have everything playable that they had at BlizzCon: the new Diablo III Monk class, the Cataclysm expansion, and the Starcraft II singleplayer campaign. Somewhat strangely, they don't actually say that the Cataclysm expansion will be the same starter zones that we played at BlizzCon -- they may actually have some of old world Azeroth open and playable. But on the other hand, they'd probably announce something like that if it was happening, and given that they'll have a smaller setup than BlizzCon, we don't imagine there'll be anything really new there.

In other WoW news at PAX, our friends at The Guild will be screening the entire season 2 on Friday evening -- Jeff Lewis and Sandeep Parikh will be there, along with producer Kim Evey and Wil Wheaton (Felicia is headed off to Dragon*Con this weekend). Unfortunately, the screening is during the Friday evening concert, and so you might have to miss Anamanaguchi, Metroid Metal, and MC Frontalot. My favorites Jonathan Coulton and Freezepop are playing on Saturday night, though, so you can fit in both of those if you like.

You may have missed it, but there's been some talk lately about whether or not Worgen could be a playable race in the next expansion. In light of that discussion and the overwhelming amount of love shown yesterday for Spiff's The Future Soon, today's featured movie is Cruel, Cruel Moon. The recommendation was made via our own Elizabeth Harper, who apparently has a friend who's quite the fan of Spiff.

The song Cruel, Cruel Moon was written by Paul & Storm, who spend a lot of their touring time with Jonathan Coulton. The song is about a man who's begging the moon not to rise, because his beloved partner is likely to turn into a werewolf. Spiff's video captures the lighthearted feel of the song excellently, and the whole thing moves at a wonderful pace. I have a lot of appreciation for this kind of music, since it tends to last long enough to enjoy the joke, without overstaying its welcome and dragging on too long.

During the credits, there's a bonus feature song. Frogger! The Frogger Musical endcaps the whole video perfectly.

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I can't help it. I'm an absolute fangirl when it comes to Jonathan Coulton and Mike "Spiff" Booth. That's why when Michael Gray let the team know he was having Internet problems, I simply had to jump in and share the most recent Spiffworld WoW machinima, Shop Vac.

Spiff notes at the end of the video, this song is all about suburban angst, and how people want to live there until they realize the 'burbs are kind of boring. As he says, "This phenomenon is exemplified in the shop vac, a tool found in many suburban garages for sucking up leaves, dirt, nails, or whatever. When you first use a shop vac, it seems like the most awesome thing ever. But then you realize it's just a vaccum cleaner."

Another fun aspect of the video is the return of one character from previous videos. See if you can spot who it is causing trouble once again. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for what must be the saddest achievement ever. Now, with all that said, check out Shop Vac for some lunchtime movie fun that doesn't suck. (Pun intended.)

This is a hard post to make. I've grown so fond of the commentary and insults that it's difficult for me to tell you that today is my last day at WoW Insider. I've received an opportunity to work in machinima that will allow me to help machinimators in a whole new way. However, my replacement, Natalie Mootz, is an excellent blogger and I'm sure she'll make you proud! I'll miss you guys.

Instead of being overly sappy, I thought I'd do a top five list of my favorite machinimas and scandals:

1. Here Without You - This love story is three and a half years old, but has stood the test of time.
2. First of May - This extremely not-safe-for-work video caused a riot on Valentine's Day!
3. Thaenor Chronicles: Chapter One - The only movie where I've been accused of ruining a PR campaign.
4. Tunasushi - The time I accidentally blogged a movie with questionable subliminal images.
5. How to Paladin: Insanity Remix - I honestly have no words to even describe this video ...
6. 9 Crimes - A bonus video that was blogged before I got to WoW Insider, but touched me nonetheless.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

Just in case you were worried about whether or not you'd see Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain live at Blizzard's upcoming Worldwide Invitational event in Paris, worry no more -- they'll be there. Both L70ETC and the Video Games Live orchestra will be performing at WWI, just as they did last year at BlizzCon '07.

Should be a great show on both counts. Does make us wonder, though, what Blizzard is planning for BlizzCon this year -- a repeat of last year's performance would be nice and all (and we have no doubt that no matter who else plays, L70ETC will definitely have to be there, considering that they're made up of Blizzard employees), but maybe we'll get some new blood in the mix? Jonathan Coulton is definitely a name that springs to mind -- even if he's not specifically a Blizzard guy, his music is very familiar to WoW fans of all levels.

Who else could they hire? Nyhm? Felicia Day to host? As fun as Jay Mohr was, seems like after all the taunting last time, he just might be trouble to get again -- Blizzard might as well choose someone that WoW fans want to see.

Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.

What do you do for WoW Insider?
I write the daily machinima posts for both WoW Insider, and its broader MMO sister site, Massively.

What's your main right now?
This won't make me very popular, but I actually don't really play WoW. I did for a while after it came out, but I'm not a very good grinder and it just got lonely.

This is an outrage! How dare you write about WoW without playing it?
That's actually a really good question. I got my start in machinima roughly two years ago when I was hired to promote it in Second Life, an oft-mocked virtual world. Through experimentation with machinima, as well as the education that I provided to others, I became known as one of the "It" people for machinima in SL.

When Second Life Insider folded into Massively in November 2007, I volunteered to write the daily Cinemassively. After about 45 days straight of blogging them, WI asked me to do the same for WoW Moviewatch!

Read on to find out more about the Notorious M.O.O. ...

It's been three months since Spiffworld made his last Jonathan Coulton machinima, Chiron Beta Prime. However, the last time I blogged about him was the V-Day Riot of '08, and I'm still in therapy. This time around, the worst you'll see is a second of human buttocks, and it's in context with the story ... about pants. It'll be over before you know it!

If there were a machinima about my life, it might be Mr. Fancy Pants. There's shopping, dancing, and ... pantsing? Wait. Scratch that. I don't want another riot on my hands. Just join me in the Fancy Pants Parade!

[Thanks, Drewbie!]

Previously on Moviewatch ...

(UPDATE: Videos are now under the jump. On this special day dedicated to love, I've chosen not one, but two videos! Both are NSFW, but sum up Valentine's Day perfectly. They contain pixel nudity and adult content. You've been warned.)

The first video was recommended by #machinima on Quakenet (IRC). "First of May" centers around what to do with your special friends when Spring arrives. The machinimator, Mike "Spiff" Booth, recreates Jonathan Coulton songs set in World of Warcraft, with the most popular being Code Monkey, another love song.

[Thanks, #machinima!]

Previously on Moviewatch ...

Both videos after the jump.

Mike Spiff Booth continues to make machinima music videos that I enjoy. The Big Boom is the latest, featuring another song by Jonathan Coulton.

Also, this one is less creepy than the one I featured last time!

Previously on Moviewatch...